Mia Ross, right, is pictured with her friend and colleague Gina Dumond at Adirondack Health’s Employee Service Awards on June 6 at Raquette River Brewing in Tupper Lake. Ross was honored for 50 years of service and Dumond was honored for 40 years of service. (Provided photo)

SARANAC LAKE — Nurse Practitioner Mia Ross celebrated 50 years with Adirondack Health in May.

For the past four decades, Ross has been a familiar face to oncology patients at Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake. She began her career with the organization in 1974 as a nurse’s aide, and then continued her nursing education over the next two decades, earning her registered nursing degree through the Regent’s External Degree Program in 1978, then a bachelor’s in nursing in 1988, and finally a master’s degree as a nurse practitioner in 1998 — all while raising her two young children and continuing to work at Adirondack Medical Center.

Ross has worked in different specialties throughout the hospital, but it was her time in the ambulatory surgery unit that began her career in oncology. At the time, neither AMC nor other area hospitals offered oncology care. A physician would fly in from Albany Medical Center once a month to work with Ross, who was an RN at the time.

During this same time, Dr. John Ruckdeschel — an oncologist at Albany Medical Center — befriended a Tri-Lakes woman who was making the three-hour trip to his hospital for breast cancer treatments.

Recognizing the hardship, Ruckdeschel contacted Dr. Alfred Decker — a surgeon at the hospital in Saranac Lake — who helped facilitate Ruckdeschel’s oncology visits in Saranac Lake. Once Ruckdeschel’s visits began, Dr. David Johnson agreed to be the medical advisor for the hospital’s oncology service. By default, Ross became an oncology nurse in the ASU.

As word spread, more patients wanted to receive their cancer care closer to home, so once-a-month oncology visits were added to the ambulatory surgery unit and more doctors were recruited to fly up from Albany, with the help of a supportive private pilot. With the need continuing to increase, oncologists upped their visits from monthly to bi-weekly to weekly — and then, in 1983, oncology became a department of its own. Today at Adirondack Medical Center, a new patient can be evaluated, diagnosed, and start receiving treatment all in the same day, when necessary.

Dr. David Mastrianni, who is the current oncologist at Adirondack Medical Center, returned to AMC in 2022 after Dr. Eric Pillemer’s retirement. Mastrianni had previously served as an oncologist here for nearly 15 years.

“It’s been a great career and the doctors taught us so much,” Ross said. “They are amazing.”

Although many people may consider working in oncology depressing, Ross said it’s one of the best kept secrets at the hospital.

“People enjoy coming here even though they’re receiving chemotherapy,” Ross said. “Working with them is incredibly rewarding. Oncology patients have to come in weekly or monthly for treatment, and they always know who is going to be there and they know we’re going to take care of them. They have a trust in us. You get to know them, and they get to know us. You get to help people get through a tough part of their life and it’s not depressing. Even when a patient doesn’t survive the disease, you know you’ve helped them. The patients and their families are always so grateful for our care.”

Ross retired from her full-time position in 2015 but has continued to work per-diem in oncology. She also recruited Sara Ames, who is now oncology’s nurse practitioner.

“Now I work per diem and I love going to work,” Ross said. “I love my work. It seems that every time I go to work, I see a patient from way back and their cancer was cured. I’m so happy to see them and they’re so happy to see me. It’s like old friends.”

Spanning 50 years, Ross said working in oncology has been the “greatest career ever” and she feels lucky to have worked at Adirondack Health for so long.

“It’s amazing that we’re such a small hospital with an oncology unit with such renowned doctors,” she said. “We were the first hospital to have rural oncology in this area. Oncology has changed so much over the past 10 years, and we have kept up with the technologies and treatments and can offer patients the same care they’d receive at a much larger hospital.”

Retirement has allowed Ross to spend more time with her family, which includes her two grown children, four grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. She’s also an avid gardener, enjoys sewing things for her grandchildren, and has been exploring her genealogy. Being active is also important to Ross, who walks and bikes daily around Saranac Lake.